Underneath my yellow skin

Third part of what I want from the Elden Ring DLC

I have more to say about what I want from the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Here is part two–which means this is part three. I always feel like I’m on the weird side of FromSoft fandom. There’s the “you’re a pussy if you play the game in any way other than the hardest way possible” faction, which, sadly, is the loudest faction. And the prominent faction representing the content creators. That and the total newbies, who turn out ot be suspiciously good at the games. I know that’s natural selection and confirmation bias, but it’s, well, frankly, boring to me. Watching someone be really good at the games, I mean. I don’t begrudge them, and I understand why people enjoy watching them. I just don’t find it interesting myself.

In addition, many of the communities are toxic AF. So much testosterone, I could choke on it. It’s disgusting, actually. I want nothing to do with it. The whole idea of ‘git gud’ and that there’s only one way to play the games if you want to be a ReAl FrOmSoFt FaN. It’s one reason I stay away from most of the communities. The casual (but virulent and relentless) sexism is grotesque.

Even in RKG, there’s the mentality that you have to suffer for the game. I get it, to a certain extent. The lads play the games in the Retry category, which is reserved for hard games. They don’t want it to be too easy for Rory. But it’s a shame that he’s missing out on things in the game because of the restrictions. Such as no spirit summons for bosses. Though that comes and goes as needs must, and  I have a feeling that in the late game, it might be done away with. Or not.

My feeling is that if Rory is fine with it, I’m fine with it. It’s his game. I want him to enjoy it as much as I do, and he’s at his best when he’s free-wheeling it. There was one field boss fight in which Gav and Krupa really pressured him not to use the spirit summon. He reluctantly gave in and dutifully parried the boss for the win, but when Gav asked, “Isn’t that better?”, Rory noticeably did not answer. In the video I included below (time-stamped for the specific moment), he is trying to cast a dragon incantation, but doesn’t really know how to do it. So he thinks he’s rubbing butter on himself, which is hilarious! “I just buttered myself up!” Never change, Rory.

Here’sl the thing. He’s good at the games, at least mechanically. His reflexes are very good, and he can read bosses pretty well. Krupa has openly admitted that Rory is better at the games than he is–and Rory is doubly good at the games as I am. At the same time, I feel like he can’t win. If he does too well, then people whine about it not being fun. If he does poorly, then they whine about him not optimizing his build and all the things they think he’s doing wrong.


It’s weird because in the Discord, most of us don’t care about how hard he finds it. The joy is just in watching him zip around like a wild man and coming up with off-the-wall solutions to problems that don’t even exist. I like it when he’s at his zaniness, and for the boss that they made him parry, he was not having fun. I don’t like it when they put the restraints on him, and I know I’m not the only one in the Discord. I do know, though, from peeking at the comments, that there are many people who do want him to be nerfed, as it were.

I am in the camp of the games are at the very heart of them, games. That means they are meant to be fun. And, I know this is a shocker for many gamers (especially cishet white male gamers), but different people enjoy games in different ways. Henetical, I know! And I have to shake my head ruefully at the people who were gushing about the magicks in Elden Ring. I mean, they are incredible, varied, and amazing. I am not taking anything away from the magicks in this game. But it’s not like the magicks were shite in the other games.

Anyway, I am truly now a fan because of the exploration. The boss fights are great, of course, but it’s almost incidental to me. And, honestly, the ones that are meant to be the skill check bosses are the least interesting to me–and my least-favorite to fight. I’ll quickly rattle them off. Dark Souls: Black Dragon Kalameet. Dark Souls II: Fume Knight. Dark Souls III: Nameless King. Bloodborne: Laurence. Sekiro: Demon of Hatred. Also, Madame Butterfly (Lady Butterfly). Elden Ring: Some would say Malenia, but, oddly, I did not have that much trouble with her. I think I would say I hated Placidusax more. Also, Mohg on my strength run just enraged me.

It’s a FromSoft meme by now. The hardest boss is an optional boss. It’s a way to test your mettle, but it doesn’t block you from finishing the game.

Hm. I just realized that my main wild theory about the DLC doesn’t really make sense linearly, but who says that the timelines are pristine? It could be a case of multiverses or time hopping all around. If that’s actually the case, then I will be very proud of myself–and probably be unbearably smug about it in the Discord.

Honestly, I don’t care about the bosses much. They looked cool in the trailers and I’m sure the boss fights will be wild–especially the last one. But, I have a sinking feeling that they’re going to make me cry–again, especially the last one. I was debating going in with my strength character because I was laughing all through that playthrough–except, as I noted above, against Mogh. I got him down to a sliver, then he did his bullshit blood heal and killed me. I could have gotten him in a few more tries, but I didn’t feel like it, so I cheesed him. There is a glitch that involves jumping about outside the arena and then he just dies. And it works! You get 420,000 Runes for him and 480,000 for Malenia. You got a million for her on NG+, which was wild. I hid her on NG+ with my second character and went around with a million Runes just because I could. Which made me very nervous.

I just want grotequesquely beautiful worlds to explore. I want to be amazed and awed by the new enemies and the new questlines. The bosses are the last thing on my list of what I want, which makes me an outlier in the FromSoft fandom. I can live with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a reply